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Who is T Raja Kumar, the new chief of global terror financing watchdog FATF?
Raja Kumar succeeds Dr Marcus Pleyer as the chief of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and will serve a two-year-term. Taking to Twitter, the FATF said that Kumar will focus on enhancing the effectiveness of global anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures, improving asset recovery and other initiatives.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday announced that Singaporean T Raja Kumar had taken over as the president of the anti-money laundering watchdog.
Raja Kumar succeeds Dr Marcus Pleyer as the chief of the FATF and will serve a two-year-term. Taking to Twitter, the FATF said that Kumar will focus on enhancing the effectiveness of global anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures, improving asset recovery and other initiatives.
In a statement, the FATF said,"Kumar has been a passionate advocate for the global terror financing watchdog and firmly believes in its mission and ability to make a global difference. He has led Singapore’s delegation at the FATF since 2015."
Here are 5 things to know about Raja Kumar:
1. Raja Kumar holds an LLB (Hons.) degree from the National University of Singapore, and a Master of Philosophy (Criminology & Law) from Cambridge University. Kumar also attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University in 2006.
2. Kumar has held a wide range of senior leadership roles in the ministry of home affairs in Singapore and the Singapore Police Force for more than 35 years.
3. Currently, he serves as the senior advisor (International) in the country's home affairs ministry. Before this, he was deputy secretary (International) at the ministry from January 2015 to July 2021 and was concurrently the chief executive of the Home Team Academy between 2014 to 2018.
4. Kumar is also the former deputy commissioner of police (Policy), director of the Police Intelligence Department, and senior deputy director of the Commercial Affairs Department.
5. He served as the pioneer chief executive of the Casino Regulatory Authority and put in place a robust regulatory framework for new casinos in Singapore, including anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), benchmarked against top-tiered jurisdictions.
